Free Republic

It started with soprano Anna Netrebko. In March, the superstar failed to condemn the war in Ukraine in terms explicit enough to satisfy Metropolitan Opera General Manager Peter Gelb. It did not matter that reciting the Met’s required denunciation in coercive conditions would likely be false and worthless. It did not matter that critics within Russia, where Ms. Netrebko remains a citizen, can now be punished with up to 15 years imprisonment for criticizing the government. It did not matter that her family members in Russia could be made to suffer if she complied with the Met’s diktat. It did...

As Alfie Evans valiantly struggles to stay alive, his legal hopes of traveling outside of the UK for treatment got an unexpected boost. After what appeared to be a final ruling from the court yesterday that denied Evans’ parents the opportunity to use the air ambulance standing by to carry the child to Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital at the Vatican, the Evans’ attorneys got contacted by a judge explaining that they could launch another appeal. The case will get heard again this afternoon: Sir Andrew McFarlane, will head a panel of three Court of Appeal judges due to hear...

FULL TITLE: BREAKING NEWS: Gunman 'shoots up to 50' at Florida high school leaving 'many dead' after going on a rampage before being taken into custody a mile from the scene following dramatic showdown with SWAT A suspected gunman has been arrested after opening fire on aFlorida high school, leaving at least 50 injured. Police surrounded Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where the 'heavily armed' shooter, wearing a gas mask, pulled out a 'long' gun at just after 2pm and began shooting. At around 4pm, two hours after the shooter first opened fire, police and SWAT teams...

Cities with Confederate history are debating whether or not to remove Civil War monuments in places like picturesque Monument Avenue that is lined with statues for Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and J.E.B. Stuart. Citizens are asking the question in Richmond - do you think Richmond should remove its Confederate monuments?

The man blamed for causing the wreck that killed KFOR Sports Director Bob Barry, Jr. was charged Tuesday with causing an accident while operating a vehicle without a state driver’s license. Gustavo Gutierrez, 26, of Bethany, was also charged with a felony count of possession of cocaine. The driving offense carries a punishment of up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The drug possession carries a punishment of up to 10 years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The charges could be amended at a later date. OKLAHOMA CITY – We’re getting our first in-person look at...

Didn't read this article. No need. The point is not the article's contents, but rather the wording of the headline. "Embedded With," did you say? Hmmm.... "Somehow I don't think that word means what you think it means." - Inigo Montoya

This image taken by NASA's Curiosity shows what lies ahead for the rover -- its main science target, Mount Sharp. The rover's shadow can be seen in the foreground, and the dark bands beyond are dunes. Rising up in the distance is the highest peak Mount Sharp at a height of about 3.4 miles, taller than Mt. Whitney in California. The Curiosity team hopes to drive the rover to the mountain to investigate its lower layers, which scientists think hold clues to past environmental change. This image was captured by the rover's front left Hazard-Avoidance camera at full resolution...

A former researcher at Amgen Inc has found that many basic studies on cancer—a high proportion of them from university labs—are unreliable, with grim consequences for producing new medicines in the future. During a decade as head of global cancer research at Amgen, C. Glenn Begley identified 53 "landmark" publications—papers in top journals, from reputable labs—for his team to reproduce. Begley sought to double-check the findings before trying to build on them for drug development. Result: 47 of the 53 could not be replicated. He described his findings in a commentary piece published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. "It...

“If you check President Obama’s last trip over-seas, his wife left just after their visit to France . She has yet to accompany him to any Arab country. Think about it. Why is Michelle returning to the states when ‘official’ trips to foreign countries generally include the First Lady.” Here’s one thought on the matter. While in a Blockbuster renting videos I came across a video called “Obama”. There were two men standing next to me and we talked about President Obama. These guys were Arabs, so I asked them why they thought Michelle Obama headed home following the President’s...

Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) has come under withering fire on the presidential campaign trail in recent days over allegations that a newsletter he edited years ago contained racist commentary. I am a firm believer in former President Ronald Reagan’s commandment not to speak ill of a fellow Republican, but racism has no place in our society today, and Paul’s comments on race should disqualify him from holding the most powerful job in the world. Many of the inflammatory comments in the Paul newsletters were published in the 1980s and 1990s. That these disturbing remarks came under such headings as “Ron...

(CNN) -- A Utah military facility that tests chemical and biological weapons was opened Thursday after a nearly 12-hour lockdown that officials said was prompted by a missing vial of "nerve agent." "On January 26, during a routine inventory of sensitive material in the chemical laboratory, Dugway officials discovered a discrepancy between the records and the agent on hand," said a statement issued by the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground. "As a precaution, the commander immediately locked down the installation and began efforts to identify the cause of the discrepancy."

The first Take Back America Tour was this weekend in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Kansas City is also on the Take Back America tour docket. Perhaps somewhere in southeast Michigan – with its sky-high unemployment numbers like Washtenaw,Wayne or Macomb County – might be fitting settings for the tour. Former Governor Sarah Palin and Fox News talk show host Glenn Beck were the first to launch the tour and spread the conservative message that America is broken and it needs to have its values, principles, and founding religious guidance restored. What is perplexing to many detractors is why is there a need...

A bit of info for the curious at this post.

A software engineer, the owner of a miniature golf course and nine other men, many from Central Florida, traveled to Polk County to have sex with a child, deputies said. Deputies with the Polk County Sheriff's Office arrested the 11 men on charges of soliciting sex from a child through the Internet during Operation Paladin -- a two-week online sex sting in which investigators, posing as a 14-year-old girl, used chat rooms and instant messaging programs to lure the men to a location in Polk County. ... Rick Nieves, 22, of Orlando, Extreme UpholsteryRobert Cirone, 42, of Lakeland, unemployedFarhan Mujahid,...

Welcome to Boston, Sen. McAmnesty. How ’bout them Patriots Er, I mean, never mind. It’s odd that on the eve of Super Tuesday, the 71-year-old Republican front-runner would be here, in his top challenger’s home state, where he’s running a mere 32 points behind. Why isn’t he stumping in California, the nation’s biggest state? Out there he’s running neck and neck, or just a little behind, Mitt Romney ahead. If Mitt somehow pulls out a victory in the Golden State tomorrow, he stays alive. McCain’s already wrapped up the three big winner-take-all states on the East Coast - New York,...

Once again, antiwar protesters rallying in Rowan Park on Saturday will be met by a smaller but fervent group of pickets who support the war. Yet if the pickets had gotten their way, it would be them — not the antiwar crowd — filling the park on the third anniversary of the Iraq invasion. A member of Free Republic, a support-the-war group, reserved Rowan Park for this weekend immediately after last year’s large antiwar rally at the park. The reservation was described as for a two-day picnic and required an $800 check covering fees and a deposit.

April 20, 2005 2:15 pm Re: Woman Found Shot to Death, Composite Sketch of Suspect Released The Los Alamitos Police Department has for release a sketch of a suspect that was reported being seen exiting the rear apartment window of the victim’s apartment. A neighbor/witness reported seeing a male, white, 20 years old wearing black clothing exit the window of the apartment. The witness worked with a police sketch artist to develop the composite drawing. At about 6:35 pm on April 18, 2005, Los Alamitos Police Officers responded to a report of shots heard in the 4300 block of Howard...

It is tough being one of the tallest men on Earth. You cannot get through your own front door, you have to bend over double in the bus, and you have to find shoes so large they could house a small dog. The trouble is, you just can't get shoes that size. That is why Leonid Stadnyk, from Zhytomyr in central Ukraine, spends so much of his time indoors. At 8ft 4in, or just over two-and-a-half metres tall, Leonid would appear to be a contender for the title of world's tallest man. A Tunisian currently recognised by the Guinness Book...

BREAKING: BOSTON GLOBE FABRICATES (as usual, plagiarists attack USA) FReeRepublic Exclusive [Howie Carr, are you listening?] Yesterday, the entire front page top-of-the-fold story in the Boston Globe was a libel on US forces. It was inaccurate and made up by the Boston Globe. The actual pictures was AP and had the headline,"U.S. Army Stf. Sgt. Chad Touchett, center, relaxes with comrades from A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, following a search in one of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s palaces damaged after a bombing, in Baghdad Monday, April 7, 2003.(AP Photo/John Moore)." The proof of this tagline caption...

HISTORY Life during wartime. There’s nothing I can say about the parade of still pictures, the faces on the television – except, perhaps, that they all seemed to share a fierce pride in their eyes, photographed for the first time in their Marine Dress Blues. Surely their families are proud of them. I certainly am, and I never got to know any of them. And now, I never will. Names scroll in little yellow letters across the bottom of our glowing screens: Sergeants, and Captains, and Privates. These men have died for us. More will follow. You may be against...